Football’s defensive woes continued in their home opener as they were blown out by the Santa Ana College Dons 83-0.
Heading into this game, the Brahmas had allowed 94 points on defense. After this game they have now allowed 177 points.
The offense has yet to put points on the board.
Interim head coach Anthony Harris said it was difficult to formulate a sentence after the result.
“When you have 40 kids out here and half of our guys are hurt,” Harris said. “We are playing a team that has 40 more players than we do. But for the most part we gave up some big plays in the first half and it is back to the drawing board.”
Harris said sometimes one’s pride needs to be checked and mentioned they will show up next week.
Things began going downhill for the Brahmas when on third down, the Dons intercepted an Andrew Young pass which led to wide receiver Tyler Shimomura scoring the first touchdown.
Five minutes later, fellow wide receiver Kristian Constantine doubled the Dons’ lead.
The Dons kept piling up touchdowns as Arthur Shaw, who is also a wide receiver and Constantine gave Santa Ana a 28-0 lead to end the first quarter.
Harris said overall execution must improve.
“Football is a team game. When you have 11 guys out there and only 10 are doing their job, that one guy who is not doing their job affects the entire team,” Harris said. “That one missed block or read it kind of stopped us.”
In the second quarter, the football team showed no signs of improvement on defense. Quarterback David Griffin and wide receiver Jacob Biddle scored touchdowns which gave the Dons a 42-0 lead.
The Dons with 1.9 seconds left in the half scored a touchdown to lead 56-0 at the half.
Pierce offensive lineman Tremaine Dunn said they should have come out with more intensity.
“We need to work on a lot of things. We should’ve had a better opportunity to win this game because the people we played were not better than us and things didn’t go our way, but we will bounce back.”
To start the second half, there was a change on the game clock. In the first two quarters it was 15 minutes, however in the second it was only 12.
The Dons did not stop on the offense and scored more TD’s through running back Ethan Pocci and wide receiver Nathan Castro as the third quarter ended 70-0.
Santa Ana were not done in the final quarter as another wide receiver in Andrew Carrazco scored to make the game 77-0.
Wide receiver Tyler Smith wrapped things up for the Dons scoring on a 85-yard return as the game ended 83-0.
Pierce were close to scoring their first points of the season, however they were stopped on 4th and goal.
Dons head coach Anthony White said they don’t focus on the scoreboard and they are just happy to be on the field.
“I thought we did a phenomenal job as a team through all four quarters,” White said. “We are excited to be out here because of what happened with COVID-19. We are so blessed. I’m proud of our coaching staff and our college is building something special.”
White was proud because his team gave 100% effort.
There was an incident when one of the Pierce players was celebrating in the Santa Ana locker room.
“One of their players was jumping up and down and celebrating with us,” White said. “All I can say is what the heck.”
Dunn said both coaches and players must do their part to turn the season around.
“It’s just the coaches and we as a team need to do better. We can’t fall short. We just need to go out there and get a win,” Dunn said.
The Brahmas have a second straight home game when they host Glendale Community College on Saturday, Oct. 9. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.
